Your email and phone call metadata certainly isn't private, but maybe you were holding out hope that good old fashioned snail mail somehow avoided big brother's living gaze. The Smoking Gun broke the bad news a month ago, and now the New York Times is confirming that nope, that's all being tracked too. Surprise…

Oh, so you still send snail-mail? Boobytrap envelopes by recording 10-second-long messages on these rewritable talking envelopes, which cost $4.75 for a 10-pack. Be sure to address them in pencil only, though! [SoundExpression via RedFerret]

Living in the digital-world definitely has its downsides, often resulting in you losing patience with delivery men when they fail to deliver mail within the allocated window. Here's how to rig your mailbox for sending iPhone alerts. [Make via BB]

Stamps and envelopes and mailboxes—I DON'T DO THAT. But these MechaniCards—a set of five intricate and mesmerizing handcrafted mechanical sculptures you can send in the mail—are awesome enough to get me back standing in line for postage.

I thought Google Map Buddy's ability to generate printable, hi-res versions of Google Maps was pretty neat but figured I'd never find a reason to use it. These Google Maps envelops, however, are definitely worth the ink and the effort.

It's neat that the POSTCN01 mailbox counts letters and notifies you how much mail is waiting, but what gets me excited is that it looks like a bomb and detonator from an old movie. It'll make my mailman pee himself.

The USPS is having a rough time lately, sending billions fewer pieces of mail each year and shutting down hundreds of thousands of mailboxes. They're in such dire financial straits they may need a bailout. And it's all our fault.

If you thought the post office was slow, get a load of this Real Snail Mail project. Created by the aptly titled Boredom Research team for the SIGGRAPH 2008 Slow Art Exhibition, this snail mail service uses live snails to deliver your email messages via RFID chips planted on the shell. When you compose an email via…